Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Arco parkings

It is hard to imagine an active holidays in Arco without a car. Access to rocks, ferrata, etc. is very difficult without your own four wheels. You can bring the car from your country or come by plane and rent it at destination.

The crossroad, Arco

Access by car

A few comments if you drive from Poland. The cheapest route is through Germany (if you start from west part of Poland). For now, the highways in Germany are still free, in Czech Republic it costs 310 CZK ($15) for a 10-days vignette or 440 CZK ($21,50) for a monthly one. It is possible to drive a whole Germany on one gasoline tank. First, fill the tank to the full in Poland on the border with Germany. Then drive calmly. I entered Germany on A4 motorway, the average speed was between 130 - 150 km/h on the cruise control. The capacity of my gasoline tank was 55 litres. In the result, I entered Innsbruck with almost empty gasoline tank. Why shouldn't you buy the petrol in Germany? Check the prices for PB95 as at 21 January 2018.

Germany: 1,37 euro / litre, about 1,70 dollars / litre

Austria: 1,25 euro / litre, about 1,55 dollars / litre

Italy: 1,60 euro / litre, about 2 dollars / litre

Italian sign for no parking for restricted hours...

Streets

Not main streets usually are very narrow. They have often the sign with the passage width, for example 1,80 or 1,90 meter. For that reason local people have small cars like Fiat Panda. What's more, they like to drive them pretty fast in these narrow streets. So, don't be surprised when you drive very careful in that street trying to not scratch the car against any wall and suddenly you will see fast Italian driving like crazy in your direction.

Typical, narrow street in Arco

Parkings

Depending on the accommodation, there may be a private parking for your car or you need to park on the street. Probably you will need to park in the city center pretty often. There are three types of parking, painted in different colors:

White - parking for free

Blue - you need to buy the ticket in the machine, usually one euro per hour

Yellow - special spot, private or hotel parking, usually not for us

All places may have additional time restriction. Information is on the sign, for example the maximum parking time is 90 minutes. The limit applies for all parking spots (white and blue).

Uncommon view - big, free of charge parking in Arco, it is far from city center

Targ

In large car parks, there is a market for one chosen day in a week. That day, peddlers bring their stalls with goods to sell on the parking . There are mostly clothes, but not only. If you decide to leave the car on such parking overnight, make sure to check on what day the market takes place (if any). At night or in the very morning all left cars are towed away from the parking. It may be costly. The information is always on the signs in the parking area.